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Drag Racing Tips

3K views 15 replies 15 participants last post by  Jpeelout 
#1 ·
Use any of this you may think might help you get a better time at the strip. Thanks to Larry who "lives" at the drag Strip.


Before you can do this on a drag strip, you must know what it is you are really doing. This article will, hopefully, give more understanding for when you go to the race track, whether it's the first time, or the first time in a long time. Some of you may already be experienced and not need this. That's ok. My intent is to help people learn so they will have a good, SAFE experience.

When you first get to the track, you'll obviously have to stop and pay your entry fee. It can vary between test and tune or an actual race day. Next will be to find a pit space where you can unload items you've brought with you that you won't want in your car while going down the track. You may even have somebody else that has driven there with you. They may be able to park in your pit spot. It just depends on the track.

Now you have to go through tech inspection. Basically this is nothing more than a safety check-point, IF the track does what it should do. With the newer LX cars, or newer cars in general, they may do nothing more than sign your tech card, (which you must also sign.) They will give you a number, which they'll put on your card & white shoe polish the number on your windows. They keep the card which usually they send to the tower for the announcer. The number is so they know when you run, they input that into their computer.

If you have modded your car quite a bit, they may check it over more, ie: under the hood, seat belts, tires. If they follow NHRA or IHRA rules strictly, and they suspect you'll run 13.99 or quicker they may want to see your helmet which must be labeled Snell 95, or SFI 31.1. These are the minimums. They could possibly not even ask.

Ok, you've now gone through tech. DON'T go straight up to the starting line, unless you are already familiar with the race track itself. Even if you are, at least go look at the track to see what kind of condition it's in. If you're not familiar with it park your car in your pit and walk toward the finish line. It will be clearly marked in some form, but get where it is now while you are looking, instead of trying to find it at 100 mph. Read this twice YOUR LIFE, HEALTH AND YOUR CAR ARE MORE IMPORTANT than waiting till you're at speed to try to find the finish line, or find out there is something wrong with the track. Ever try to stop from over 100 mph on sand, dirt, oil or water?

When you see the finish line, there will be, (usually boxes) with lights in the middle and outside of both lanes very close to the ground. That is the finish line. If you look 66 feet toward the starting line, there will be another set of lights, just like the finish line. This is where the mph clock starts. It times you over the last 66 feet of track and the computer figures your mph.

Look from the finish line and see how much shut down room you have. Even though our cars have good brakes, How much room will you have to stop if your brakes fail (it has happened) and you have to use your emergency brake? What kind of barrier do they have to help you stop if you lose your brakes? Sand pit? Fence? River? Corn field? You need to know.

Now! Get in your car, take a deep breath and feel the adrenalin already pumping. Your car should be cooled down pretty good, your garden spray bottle filled with ice water and your tire pressure gauge with you. Head to the staging lanes, watching for cars like yours, street tires, or street driven. The announcer may even announce which lanes are for which cars. Lanes for FWD, street cars, permenant number race cars. If you're not sure...ask.

Check you water temp in the lanes. If it's up around normal, give a couple squirts from your sprayer onto the radiator, check your tire pressure. If you don't have an air tank with you don't let out any air, yet.
You're in line and pulling up. They're not pulling your lane out yet. Spray your radiator again, if you've got ice on it take it off. You and the track people don't want you dripping water on the racing surface. If you don't have an air tank, check the pressure in your drive tires (AWD do all 4) and then equalize the drive tires. If you have an air tank and you want to let air out, do it now. Then get ready, cause you're next!

The person in charge of the staging lanes will motion you on. Put your seat belt on now, (keeps you from being embarrased on the starting line, when they open your door to tell you.) Soon you'll be pulling out onto the track headed toward the bleach box. If you have slicks on your car, go ahead and pull into the water, stopping just after your back tires have gone through almost all the way. If you're still running street tires DO NOT drive into the water, GO AROUND IT. The last thing you want is water in the tread and wheel wells when you leave the starting line. I know, it's cool to do a good impressive smokey, but it's not going to do you any good. The burnout is for the sticky slicks. It cleans them & puts heat into them for better traction.

The cars in front of you are leaving the starting line. Now you can hit the throttle and right back off onto the brakes. With street tires that's all you need. You'll already have looked at other cars on the starting line while you were waiting in the staging lanes. Slowly pull your car up till you turn on the top bulb on the christmas tree. That's the pre-stage light. It lets you know you're about 12" from the starting line. If the other person has not pre-staged, wait till they do. It's a common courtesy. When you are both pre-staged start moving forward. You will see the second light come on (the staged light. That's the starting line) Because our rims are 18" and more, don't stop as soon as you see the second light come on. If you do, chances are your reaction time will suck. You have to guess how far to go before you stop. If the top bulb goes out, you've "Deep Staged". Don't worry, that just means your front tires are in front of the pre-staged lights. You can adjust on your next run.

As soon as you stop, push your brake pedal like you're trying to push it thru the floor with your left foot. Put your right foot on the gas, trust your instincts, listen to the engine, but don't look at the tach, because as soon as you staged, you focused your eyes on the 3rd large yellow light, the last one before the green. Don't take your eyes off of that light, don't look to see if your friends see you, don't look to see if the 1st 2 yellow lights have come on. Keep your eyes on that last yellow light till you see it come on. When you see that last yellow, mash the gas, let go of the brake and Katy bar the door, cause you're on your way to a 12, 13 or 14 second run over 1320 feet at speeds nearing or exceeding 100 mph.

If you are shifting the car yourself, look at the tach so you don't over-rev the engine. That will slow you down, plus if it goes high enough you could do some damage. Try different shift points, higher is not always better. I have shifted my Charger R/T as low as 5000 rpm and still ran good numbers.
You'll probably cross the finish line in 3rd gear. (Remember where the finish line was when you 1st got there? Now you're seeing it go under your car) Let off the gas and start Applying your brakes easy. You'll know how much room you've got to stop, because you already checked. Most tracks have more than 1 turn off. I suggest going by the 1st one, just because it'll be easier on your brakes.

Pull off of the track and onto the return road. Now you can start to breathe again as the adrenalin eases off. There will be a small building somewhere on the return road. Pull up to it, they'll check your number on your car and give you your time slip. Drive back to your pit & get something to drink.

Now for the numbers. You're learning, the track, your car, yourself. You just made a clean safe run and got stopped ok and you're back in your pit, so it's a success! Use the numbers to judge where you're at. #1-reaction time. Some tracks start at .000 others are still at .500. There's 1/2 second between the last yellow going off & the green coming on. A perfect reaction time is .000 or .500. This is just my opinion, but I feel anything up to a .050 or .550 is a good acceptable reaction. That means your front tires "broke the starting line beam" 5 hundreths of a second after the green came on. If your time is slower than that, well, now you've got a goal to shoot for. #2 is your 60' time, how long after the green did your front tires get to the 60' lights. If it's your 1st run compare it to the next runs. I had my worst 60' time at a 2.38 with the Charger. I spun the tires big time, so I adjusted how I revved the engine on my next run and that time came down. #3 is the 330' time, #4 is the 8th mile time and speed. Some tracks have lights at 1,000 feet. If so #5 is how long it took you to get there. The last numbers are your 1/4 mile time and that last 66' gives your mph.

Use your numbers to adjust how you drive. If they are slower on a run, what did you change? Faster? Good! Why? You want to almost become a machine, do every part as consistant as you can from run to run. But only change 1 thing at a time if you make changes. If you changed 2 and ran worse-which 1 hurt?

Now, you've made your run. It's hot, your car is running slower. They will slow down in hotter weather and run faster in cooler weather. If you were out there just to have fun, or to get serious, I hope this has or will help. It's only a start, still a lot to learn, long way to go. Go out there now and do it, but most of all....HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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#5 ·
That's great stuff Snake- many thanks as always.

Another thing I do is ask questions if I see another car like mine. It's usually not a competition thing so others will tell you some things like optimal tire pressure, launch and shift RPM's, things to watch for in a certain lane, which lane is running a bit better and so on.

Perhaps one more tip is to simply watch the start line for a while. You usually have plenty of time to get in three or four passes. See what's going on, how different folks do different things like staging, going around the water box and so on.

Most people's minds turns to mush when it's their car at the track. If it's your first few time, don't worry, you'll make some mistakes. You'll learn from it.

You'll also learn that this type of experience can be addicting. It's amazing to run your car for all it's worth and not worry about tickets, cross streets, hidden patches of antifreeze and etc : )

A final tip- make sure you have enough fuel to run and then get you to a gas station on the way home if you're driving there. Don't ask me how I learned this one... : )

Be safe and enjoy.
 
#6 ·
That's good stuff. Now, tell us how to launch the 6 speed!
See if any of this helps:




With a stick shift, the main aim is to avoid excessive wheelspin by pressing the throttle too much, but also avoid bogging down the motor by pressing the throttle too little. The driver has to get the throttle input just right, like in that Goldilocks fairytale. Each car engine has a different rpm range in which it will produce the most power. The trick is to keep the engine in this sweet spot from the moment you cross the starting line all the way to the finish line, without any of this peak power being wasted. Launching a car hard from a dead stop is accomplished by slipping the clutch and spinning the tires, both within reason. Power is lost here, but most engines have narrow power and torque bands, so the fastest launch will include wheelspin and slipping the clutch. The only way to find out how much slipping would be just right is to experiment at the track, holding the throttle at various rpm levels at launch to see how much juice is needed for the quickest start.
Some people may say a manual benefits from powershifting during a race, which is to keep the throttle floored between shifts. It is not a good idea for a beginner, since a ill-timed shift can cause your engine to over-rev and inflict permanent damage.
 
#7 ·
A couple of quick adds.

1. Watch the track employees and do what they say, well at least some of the time. They will direct you through everything up until you're pulling up to the line. They will tell you when to burn out and move up to the line. Also, if you're able to, when racing on street tires pull around the water box. All you will do if you drive through it is pick up water in your treads or kick water up around the fender well - both dangerous and something that increases your chances of spinning really bad off the line - which you don't want to do. Wheel spin results in slower quarter mile times, but you will get higher trap speeds. These track guys are just there to move cars through as quickly as possible so don't feel rushed by them. Take your time even if they're rushing you to go up to the line. I've knocked myself out of races by listening to the guys the tracks employ as I'm staging - a lot of times they have no clue, lol. Relax and enjoy yourself from start to finish. Don't rush. Also, your first time at the track, don't worry about reaction times. As soon as the tree turns green, the quarter-mile clock does not start, only your reaction time counter. Your quartermile time doesn't start until you actually launch the car. You can sit at the tree with it lit green for as long as you want until you're ready to launch the car if that's what it takes to get the rpm's where you want them. If I'm just looking for fast track times, I can care less about the reaction times. I've sat there for 10 seconds or more just to get the car in the configuration I want before I launch it.

2. Watch where the cars are pulling up to the line. They are laying down two strips of rubber which you want to be sitting on when you launch or it will be worse than trying to launch on the street. Get "in the groove".

3. DO NOT DEEP STAGE if you want the fastest quarter mile times. Stop as soon as the second set of lights is lit. You barely want to light it. This gives you the fastest quarter-mile times. The deeper you go in, the slower your quarter-mile time will be but if you are looking for reaction times, they will be better. For bracket racing there are times that you will want to deep stage but don't worry about that for just hitting the track for some fun.

4. Practice practice practice and more practice is needed. Drivers can slow a car down a full second or more. If your car doesn't run as fast as you think it should, keep practicing and you will more than likely see your car get faster and faster the more you run it.

Hope that helps!
Joshua, HHP
 
#9 ·
As someone building an 800 rwhp car who never ran at the strip I took a drag racing school. Everything said here seems spot on. Three things I learned in my school session were first to make sure you line up as perfectly straight as possible in the groove. The faster your car, the more important to be straight. Second is to prestage and find the aiming point you want your car to go to down the track. Then stage and keep watching until the amber comes on, accelerate and focus on your aiming point to go straight. Third do not steer but gently guide your car down the track. Trying to eliminate tiny wobbles is often the cause of oversteering your car. Practice until your procedure becomes preformed without concious thought and you will be fast. My very first 60 ft times wre 1.291,1.290, and 1.287 just from the help of a professional before my first run. I can't wait to be able to send in some timeslips in the near future. Good racing to all :smileup:
 
#12 ·
Great advice and back to the top with this great thread.

Took my boy (5 year old) to the track today (Mopar day) and he had a blast (so did I). So now he tells me next time we bring Mommy so you can race dad. I've never raced before so this thread is very helpful, thanks Snake and others for your contributions.

Test and tune in September here I come.. :)

Shaun
 
#13 ·
Great advice and back to the top with this great thread.

Took my boy (5 year old) to the track today (Mopar day) and he had a blast (so did I). So now he tells me next time we bring Mommy so you can race dad. I've never raced before so this thread is very helpful, thanks Snake and others for your contributions.

Test and tune in September here I come.. :)
Tune and test is the perfect time and place to learn what you are doing. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask those around you in the pits, generally most people are friendly and more than willing to help. Good luck when you race and don't be surprised if you find it more than a little addicting. :smileup:
 
#15 ·
That's it, the polar bear and I are going to the track to do some racing this year! Thanks for the tips.
Man.. it's been a least 30 yrs since I last hit the track. Edmonton Speedway. The one thing i remember about it was about 1/2 way down the track there was a dip in the track that made the guys schvinkters clench as they went through it.

Good times! :)
 
#16 ·
Man, you guys make me miss high school, when i used to whip my dad in our Dakotas. Mine was a single cab with the v6 and 5 speed and his was the ex cab and 318ci with 5 speed. If I could get off of school on a wed. I would hit my home track (No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, LA). I can't wait to be back in my old stomping grounds!
 
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